JERSEY CITY -- A Staten Island man has been charged with striking a U.S. Postal Service worker last month and stealing her phone after she grew concerned that the dog in his vehicle was in distress due to the heat.

Jonathan Russo, of Van Duzer Street, made his first court appearance on the charge of robbery in Jersey City Wednesday.

The woman said she was delivering mail in Union City when she saw the dog in a vehicle and it appeared to be suffering. She later told police that she notified Russo, who was also in the vehicle, and continued on her route, according to a criminal complaint.

But she told officers that when she returned to the area the dog was still in the vehicle and still appeared to be in distress, so she used her phone to take a picture of the dog in order report the incident to the authorities, the court document states.

That's when Russo got out of the vehicle, she told police, struck her in the face and took her phone before getting back in the vehicle and driving off. Russo was charged after the mail carrier identified him in a photo array, according to the complaint.

Russo appeared in Criminal Justice Reform Court in Jersey City yesterday via video link from Hudson County jail in Kearny. At the hearing, the state moved to detain him through the course of his prosecution and a detention hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.